MKAU has been invited to an early preview of the upcoming game ‘Jumplight Odyssey’, a starship adventure simulator. With early access scheduled to be available on August 21st, I was the fortunate one to go hands-on and tell you all about it. Watching the trailer immediately brought thoughts of classic cartoons of the 80s and 90s. League of Geeks who have developed and published Jumplight Odyssey have a clear passion for that generation of television and displays very proudly with this game.

You play as Princess Euphora, a regent of the planet Pleiades, and the captain of the ‘SDF Catlina’. As peaceful explorers, you have spread far and wide from your home, the Forever Star. When Pleiades is set upon by the Zutopan Empire, a warmongering race, all who can defend Pleiades move to protect it. Unfortunately, the power of Zutopan Empire is too great.

The destruction of not only the protecting force of planet Pleiades, but the planet itself is destroyed. SDF Catalina being the only remaining starship, Princess Euphora orders the ship to jump to another system to protect what is left of her people. With dwindling hope, Princess Euphora sets a course for the Forever Star as Admiral Voltan, of the Zutopan Empire, pursues with the goal of destroying you.

Gameplay is a standard affair of resource management, building, and leadership. Jumplight Odyssey comes with a handy tutorial that will give you a basic setup aboard the SDF Catalina but will also run you through the basics of the above-listed gameplay components. Your goal is to stay one step ahead of Admiral Voltan and reach the Forever Star.

The SDF Catalina comes with six decks. The bridge is where you lead from and most importantly activate your jump engines. The promenade is where your crew gets their needs met. Be it rest and relaxation, socialising, or eating a meal this is the deck for them. The quarter deck is where manufacturing and supplies are created. The flight deck is where you dispatch a shuttle craft to explore and gather resources from the system you’re in.

This is also where you launch fighter ships to protect the SDF Catalina. The lower deck is an open slate where you can design your layout and place any room functions you want. That is not to say you can’t do that with other decks, but with already functioning facilities it’s not necessary unless you really want to. The final deck is the engine room, here is where the jumplight engine lives. The jumplight engine is the most important piece of equipment as without it there is no way of outpacing Admiral Voltan and making it to the Forever Star.

Navigating the SDF Catalina can be done with a keyboard and mouse or with a gamepad. I tried both and found both very functional. I personally preferred using the gamepad as bouncing between menus was faster with a button press than waving the mouse all over the screen to close windows to access other menus.

Graphically, as mentioned earlier it takes a page from cartoons of the ’80s and 90s. ‘Voltron’, ‘Sailor Moon’ and ‘He-Man’ are perfect examples. Not only the cutscenes but the in-game graphics have the same bold, bright colouring with thick black outlines punctuating against other objects in the area.

The audio is just as impressive matching a perfect feel of the setting. The music also marries to the graphics perfectly giving off the same vibes of those classic cartoons.

If you have ever wanted to be a part of the action in those classic cartoons then Jumplight Odyssey gives you that unique experience. With early access about to start, what League of Geeks has started with is fantastic. I look forward to seeing what additions they will be adding to what is already an impressive beginning.

Written by: Ashley Barnett-Cosgrove